Heimlich maneuver

an emergency rescue procedure for application to someone choking on a foreign object, in which the rescuer places a fist between the victim's lower ribs or upper abdomen from behind and exerts sudden pressure in the form of thrusts of sufficient force to help eject the object from the windpipe.

Origin of Heimlich maneuver

1970-1975

1970-75, Americanism; after H. J. Heimlich (born 1920), U.S. physician who devised it

Heimlich maneuvern. An emergency technique used to eject an object, such as food, from the trachea of a choking person. The technique employs a firm upward thrust just below the rib cage to force air from the lungs up through the trachea, thus dislodging the obstruction.